The government on Tuesday told the Rajya Sabha that it was unlikely to restore investment of interest on special deposit scheme back into the scheme even as a senior CPI (M) member warned that Left parties cannot be taken for granted on the matter.
"It is very unlikely to allow interest on SDS to be invested in the SDS itself," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said responding to demands by Left parties to restore the provision that was discontinued by the NDA government last year.
A visibly annoyed CPI (M) member Jiban Roy, who made this demand, remarked "You don't expect us to blindly follow you". His colleague Dipankar Mukherjee sought increasing the EPF interest rate from the current 8.5 per cent.
The Central Board of Trustees, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, in its meeting in August this year had recommended that interest on SDS should be allowed to be invested in the SDS itself.
Chidambaram said though he will look into this issue, the fact remained that the government could borrow at the interest rates of 6.5 to 6.7 per cent as against 8 per cent in SDS.
"I appreciate the member's (Jibon Roy) concern. This is an important concern," he said adding, however, the government is concerned about the total fiscal liability and fiscal deficit and "we have to balance this".
